]]>Puyo Puyo Tetris is a 1-4 player Tetris Puyo Puyo mashup where players can play Tetris, Puyo Puyo or Tetris Puyo Puyo Fusion against other people (online and locally) or against AI opponents.

Gameplay

Puyo Puyo Tetris is a puzzle game with the mechanics of Tetris and Puyo Puyo.

–Skip this if you know how both games work–

In standard Tetris blocks fall from the top of the screen to the bottom. If they form a complete line, the line is cleared and if you clear multiple lines at once you get a bonus. There is also chained bonuses where if you clear multiple lines one after the other they chain together and multiply points. If you clear 4 lines you get a “TETRIS!” bonus.

Puyo Puyo is similar except you get groups of 2-4 Puyos of different colors raining from the top of the screen. Group 4 or more Puyos and you clear them. Get another group to clear because of the previous group being cleared and you get a chain bonus (like above). These chains can get crazy where you can get 8 or more chains going off.

–You can keep reading from here!–

There are 3 main game options (Adventure, Arcade and Online) with choices between Puyo Puyo, Tetris or Fusion.

Adventure

Adventure mode of Puyo Puyo Tetris is basically story mode. You play different “Acts” as the Puyo Puyo team meet the Tetra team from a different dimension because somehow Puyos can manipulate the space-time continuum? It has a 3-star challenge system (think Angry Birds) where defeating your opponent under certain game modes and settings awards you 1-3 stars depending on how hard you whoop the computer opponent(s). You’ll also unlock stuff as you play such as new characters, stages and background music. You also earn credits which can be used to purchase alternative voice packs, block and Puyo designs.

Arcade

Arcade mode has a ton of different modes for both solo play and local multiplayer (NOTE! – For PC multiple controllers are needed since Nintendo doesn’t understand that 4 people can play on a single keyboard at once!). Each mode has a battle or endurance setting. Battle allows you to play against 1-4 CPU opponents you want at once and you can set teams. Endurance pits you 1v1 against as many CPU opponents you can defeat. When you clear blocks and/or Puyos, Garbage blocks and/or Puyos are sent to the opponent(s). These can only be cleared by clearing blocks and/or Puyos surrounding the Garbage blocks and/or Puyos (in Fusion you can clear Garbage Puyos with a Tetris block). Sorry about all those and/ors but there is one or the other or both!

Modes

Versus

You choose to play either Tetris or Puyo Puyo against your opponents (who also choose between Tetris or Puyo Puyo).

Fusion

You play with Tetris and Puyos raining down at the same time. Each character has their own starting pattern at which the Tetris blocks and Puyos fall.

Swap

You play on 2 separate games (Puyo Puyo and Tetris) that swap at regular intervals.

Party

Items appear and players have infinite lives competing for the highest score under a set timer.

Big Bang

You have to clear Tetrimino (Tetris) and Puyo patterns as fast as you can in order to beat your opponent.

Challenge

You have 6 unique single player modes:

Endless Fever

You have to clear preset chains within a time limit.

Endless Puyo

Single player Puyo to see how long you can last.

Tiny Puyo

Extra tiny Puyos rain down giving you more room for combos. The falling speed also increases at regular intervals and resets again in a cycle.

Sprint

Clear 40 lines as fast as possible.

Marathon

Clear 150 lines with the highest score possible.

Ultra

Rack up the highest score possible in 3 minutes.

As you can see there are a crap ton of game modes!

Online Play

You can play against people from all over the world and watch their uploaded replays to feel like nothing matters because you’ll never be that good so why bother playing this game? You can play ranked matches or “Free Play” (unranked) and choose the game modes or settings you’d like. You can also create match rooms or join them.

Nitpicks

Figuring out handicaps at first is confusing as hell. There is no difficulty settings for the computer opponents which there should be because it is far easier to set and understand than handicaps! You can set the handicaps (ranging from easy to hard) to Sweet, Mild, Medium, Hot, Spicy which affect the speed at which blocks and Puyos fall as well as Garbage sent to other players.

Even with handicaps these CPU opponents are tough to beat – but it’s also probably because I suck…

Sound design

The clacking of Tetris blocks and little bloops of the Puyos is extremely satisfying. The background audio is subdued so the players can hear their actions clearly. A lot of the sound effects are neat and clear so you won’t be confused when you hear your opponents wrecking you with a barrage of “TETRIS!”. The background music isn’t bad but it’s not that great either.

Story

The story is extremely childish and boring. It’s perfect for children between the ages of 3 and 9. Most of the characters have irritating, grating voices that will scratch the chalkboard that is your ear holes! Luckily there’s a skip option for all the cut-scenes.

Characters

There are too many to list but pretty much all of them are annoying, uninspired and uncute. How the hell did Nintendo screw these designs up this badly? Japan is known for cute and adorable but all these kids, creatures and robots can die for all I care.

Interface

Most of the menu interfaces are good and you can customize A LOT of settings – until you want to change how your Puyos and Tetris blocks look. You don’t have a preview mode for them – which is beyond stupid. You have to check them out at the shop.

Overall

Puyo Puyo Tetris is a great but somewhat silly game for fans of both Puyo Puyo and Tetris. You can choose one or the other or both and the AI and challenges should keep the avid puzzle gamer busy for far too long than they want to admit. Just avoid staring too much at the characters and skip all the cutscenes – unless you actually find them cute.

]]>http://brutalgamer.com/2018/03/17/puyo-puyo-tetris-pc-review/feed/0MADiSON Demo (PC) Reviewhttp://brutalgamer.com/2018/02/21/madison-demo-pc-review/
http://brutalgamer.com/2018/02/21/madison-demo-pc-review/#respondWed, 21 Feb 2018 21:01:42 +0000http://brutalgamer.com/?p=127822MADiSON is a highly realistic, insanely terrifying psychological horror game demo that made me shit my pants. MADiSON builds up ambient fear to maximize all the jump-scares it has in store. While I do wish games would rely less on jump-scares and more on ambiance, I do feel that MADiSON had a terrifying environment right …

]]>MADiSON is a highly realistic, insanely terrifying psychological horror game demo that made me shit my pants. MADiSON builds up ambient fear to maximize all the jump-scares it has in store. While I do wish games would rely less on jump-scares and more on ambiance, I do feel that MADiSON had a terrifying environment right from the beginning. If you’re a fan of playing psychological horror games or watching friends play horror games this is right up your ally.

Story

From what I could infer from the demo, MADiSON starts off with a young man inside his parents’ abandoned home. Luca, a disturbed youth, has come back to his parents’ home as an adult. Luca was obsessed with his relative’s Polaroid camera and as a child showed signs of violence and hearing voices. He was expelled from his school and his parents were told he needed help. Luca searches for the camera in the house. However, the camera seems to have been owned and is possessed by a serial killer named Madison and the house may be the scene of more depraved happenings and torture than the player thinks.

Character

Luca

I like how Luca seemed to have been crazed as a child and possibly tortured or suicidal. It adds a lot more depth to his character than the average random protagonist who is usually some dumb journalist that stumbles upon an old house. Luca is directly involved in the mystery surrounding the house. This allows the player to be more curious and willing to investigate the spooky as shit house.

Gameplay

The game is a first person puzzler as far as the demo is concerned. You navigate with WASD and look and interact using the mouse. The player can pick up and interact with items in the house. The player then solves puzzles and triggers events that lead to the next area or “flag” being set (a condition in-game that leads to the next area being unlocked once all “flags” have been raised). An example is finding a picture, finding a nail and hanging said picture on the wall where an obvious dust-absent mark was.

You can pick up film using the mouse and take photos using the camera by pressing F and left-clicking. I really thought it was clever how the player uses the Polaroid camera and must “shake” the photos with their mouse for the film to develop.

A curious thing is how a bunch of horror games have used cameras as a gameplay element. So while I do think it is done well in MADiSON, it is not really unique. That aside, the puzzles are fairly straightforward in the demo but rely on the player noticing things out of place and triggering events. I didn’t really need to think hard, I just needed to be observant to solve them. I went after a red herring when I thought that was the next step of the puzzle so I actually played myself for thinking too hard.

User Interface

The user interface is very simplistic opting for a nigh non-existent HUD for favor of immersion. You only have a transparent cursor appear on interactive items some of which you can look at or pick up or move using the mouse. The inventory also has very minimal text and icons.

An issue I found with the demo which may not be a problem for the final release is a lack of instruction. I had to think of how to navigate the inventory menu. It is brought up when pressing tab or when I clicking on an interactive area but I did not know how to move between items.

The player can also inspect objects and rotate them around with their mouse which is quite smooth. Shaking photos can be clunky but the devs were smart to include a “center” option to center the photo for the player to look at properly which I appreciate.

Graphics

The environment, lighting and models are really impressive. They are highly realistic. There were boxes for Polaroid film that were probably the most realistic boxes I’ve ever seen in a video game (demo). No jokes. They had freaking corrugated cardboard shadows bouncing as I rotated the box in the light which is crazy.

A minor gripe, which is an all too common lighting error in video games, is one light flickering in the hallway could be seen a bit through the wall of a room. What a nitpick.

Sound Design

The sounds for the demo are extremely anxiety inducing. The house makes all sorts of creaks and squeaks and the various small sounds such as picking up paper or a key are well done. There’s a chair that moves and scrapes on the floor. When I heard it I wanted to stop playing – I was hella spooked.

There’s good voice acting as well. The guy playing Luca has a pleasant voice that’s easy to hear and doesn’t sound like he’s overdoing it. It’s quite authentic.

Atmosphere And Horror

The ambient noises setup a tense environment where I was jumping at the stupidest sounds. By making the environment fairly devoid of music and noise, the most emphasized sounds raise your fears such as a chair scraping. The demo did a great job of building tension. There was a point where I screamed “shit” after a long build up to a jump-scare and bounced in my chair, ending up scaring my father behind me.

The biggest issue in this demo is that the jump-scares were always happening. At the end of the demo I could almost predict them. Nearly 100% of the time interacting with an object will result in some form of jump-scare accompanied with a blaring noise. I think the graphics and sound design don’t need jump-scares to elicit fear in players.

There was a part where lights flickered and candles lit themselves – that’s scary. Taking a photo of something and seeing a chair floating in the photo when it shouldn’t – that’s scary. Turning around to see the chair is facing you when clearly it faced the other way just moments ago – that’s scary as shit! Jump-scares are scary but easy, cheap and unmemorable. It’s a bit lazy to be frank.

Overall

This demo showed what just 2 developers are capable of. It’s astonishing how good the models and sound design is. The gameplay could use some tweaking and the jump-scares should be toned down. If the devs balance the ambient horror with jump-scares it will be a terrifying game. The story itself is really intriguing thus far and I do think MADiSON would be a successful psychological horror game if it focuses more on the psychological aspect and less on the horror jumps in its final release.

]]>http://brutalgamer.com/2018/02/21/madison-demo-pc-review/feed/0Guardians of the Galaxy Ep 5 Don’t Stop Believin’ (PC) Reviewhttp://brutalgamer.com/2017/12/12/guardians-of-the-galaxy-ep-5-dont-stop-believin-pc-review/
http://brutalgamer.com/2017/12/12/guardians-of-the-galaxy-ep-5-dont-stop-believin-pc-review/#respondTue, 12 Dec 2017 22:00:07 +0000http://brutalgamer.com/?p=126321The Guardians are in shambles, and their adventures seem to have come to an end. So where does the team go from here? Check out Guardians of the Galaxy Ep 5 to learn more. If you are looking to catch up, you can find Ep 1, Ep 2, Ep3, and Ep 4 here. Guardians of …

]]>The Guardians are in shambles, and their adventures seem to have come to an end. So where does the team go from here? Check out
Guardians of the Galaxy Ep 5 to learn more.

If you are looking to catch up, you can find Ep 1, Ep 2, Ep3, and Ep 4 here.

Guardians of the Galaxy Ep 5

When we left our heroes, the Guardians were in shambles, as it seemed their adventures would be a thing of the past. Drax is dead, while Groot, Mantis and Gamora all wen’t their own ways. Hala the Accuser was fused with the remnants of the Infinity Forge. Leaving Star-Lord, Rocket and Bowie the rock snake to save the Galaxy without their friends. Whether you want to call it arrogance or trust, Star-Lord knew that the team would reunite before long.

Getting The Gang Back Together

While sitting at the bar trying to figure out their next move, Rocket and Star-Lord see a news broadcast about Hala wreaking havoc across the galaxy. She is on the hunt for the Guardians, and what Quill is responsible for.

The news broadcast ends, and Mantis finds Peter and Rocket. She realizes her error, and wants to rejoin the group. Reuniting with Mantis and her empathic abilities begins the hunt for their missing members.

The story arc of finding your friends across the planets is a slight, but enjoyable mix of gameplay. Mantis’ powers allow her and Peter Quill to search his memories and build on his feelings. This brings about a fresh, black-and-white appeal to the world that is typically so vividly colored.

It takes a little time, but we are able to reunite with the entire team, even the believed-to-be-dead Drax the Destroyer. Drax is sitting alone in the cave after his battle with the giant beast that was chasing the Milano. If anyone else out there’s arc went the same way as mine had, I was feeling none too wonderful at the thought of losing my Drax. being able to reunite with such a madman made my final chapter that much more enjoyable.

Mixed Feelings

We get to enjoy a scene with Star-Lord sporting a strange, Ron Swanson-like moustache, and taking plenty of flack from his soon-to-be teammates over it. With this being the introduction of our heroes as a group.

After the exploration of Peter’s feelings, we are given the chance to assign rolls to the team for the final assault. This gives the player the opportunity to be as serious or as ridiculous as you are feeling. Maybe you use Drax to defend a team member and Groot as a stealth member, or on the flip side, you could use Groot to be a hacker, and Drax to be stealthy.

Thoughts

Well, the final attack is something you will have to play for yourself, but when it was said and done, we find something else unexpected. Telltale is setting themselves up for a second season of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Given their popularity with the MCEU, I don’t blame them either. And their choice of cliffhanger here is well deserved, given the reputation within the Marvel canon. Nope, I won’t spoil who shows up, but you wouldn’t be too hard pressed to figure it out for yourself.

Grab a copy of Telltale’s Guardians of the Galaxy for a trip all your own.

]]>http://brutalgamer.com/2017/12/12/guardians-of-the-galaxy-ep-5-dont-stop-believin-pc-review/feed/0Oh My Godheads (PC) Reviewhttp://brutalgamer.com/2017/12/11/oh-my-godheads-pc-review/
http://brutalgamer.com/2017/12/11/oh-my-godheads-pc-review/#respondMon, 11 Dec 2017 16:16:18 +0000http://brutalgamer.com/?p=126084Not to be confused with an anime of nearly the same name, Oh My Godheads is a 4-player 3D party brawler where you and your friends battle it out with giant god heads. Use the heads of gods from various myths and legends to destroy friendships and controllers by winning multiple game modes and killing …

]]>Not to be confused with an anime of nearly the same name, Oh My Godheads is a 4-player 3D party brawler where you and your friends battle it out with giant god heads. Use the heads of gods from various myths and legends to destroy friendships and controllers by winning multiple game modes and killing your opponents!

Gameplay

Oh My Godheads plays on a single, shared screen using a controller for each player. Players can jump, attack, deflect pies, dash, grab godheads and can do jump-attack combos. Players respawn at designated spawn points when killed depending on the game mode. Pies are throw-able bombs that are thrown certain distances depending on how the player moves and kill anyone they hit. If the player stands still the pie will be thrown a short distance but running around makes it subject to physics and relative velocity. One can deflect a pie back but it is quite difficult to pull off in an actual match where it’s tough to determine the exact direction you are facing. Jumping around itself can feel sluggish. However, jump-attack combos insta-kill if they hit their target in the right spot.

The main feature of the game are the godheads. Each godhead has it’s own unique ability that makes most of them hot potatoes. Hold on a head too long and you’ll be frozen, exploded, drunk and a number of other displeasing things. Players can throw heads at allies and enemies which can make for quite the chaotic game. On top of that, there are items for certain game modes – and a lot of these items create an absolute hell for friends and foes. Players can be stomped on, smokescreened, exploded some more etc.

Gamemodes

Oh My Godheads has 5 game modes that can be played, all of which have point limits which make up a win:

Capture The Head

Players must capture a god’s head and bring it back to their plinth.

King Of The Head

Hold onto a head long enough to fill a gauge up which will give you points.

Headhunters

Kill as many players as required to win.

Last Man Standing

Be a survivor.

Trials

Small challenges that help you learn how to play and unlock godheads and maps.

The game modes are pretty much the bread-and-butter of most couch-party games. As simple as they are, they’re done fairly well and matches can vary from being over very quickly or taking agonizingly long to finish as you and your friends play tug-of-war with the godheads.

Camera

The camera work is actually pretty well done and I must give credit where it is due. Everyone will be able to see where they are and where things are even though they are sharing the screen!

Sound

Music

The theme music for special maps is really good! Some are upbeat, pumping rhythms related to their location such as the Japanese koto coupled with taiko or a foreboding song with a siren and sticks from the Cambodian jungles. The main theme on the other hand can get quite tiresome.

Sound effects

There are a ton of things going on in each match and thankfully there’s only one sound that may get annoying after awhile – Kali’s gongs. Other than that, each sound is appropriate and clear enough to be heard so that you know when a godhead is about to go full-on “triggered“. You get to pick from a few character models which all have their own voices too. Also, the announcer in the game sounds like Quake 3’s which is neat considering you get double kills, triple kills and special sounds for last minute saves or funny deaths.

Interface

The game’s interface is great. Clear, simple menus, HUDs and the ability to change maps, levels etc. at any time. I also found the options a little late but playing the game at lower graphics made it seem like an old PS2 game so I really didn’t mind too much and I think that was the point behind most of the design choices.

Graphics

The graphics consist of old school low polygon-count models with crisp textures and low detail 2D cartoony overlays. It very much fits the theme they seemed to be going for.

Overall

Oh My Godheads is a fast paced party brawler that will make chaos erupt on the couch as friends kill each other and become frustrated with carrying godheads all day. It’s a well-rounded, simplistic game and the only nitpicks I have is some lack of clear instructions. A few godheads have some odd abilities that one must figure out for themselves and seeing an overall button mapping for controllers is non-existent. That out of the way, it’s a good fun game and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

]]>http://brutalgamer.com/2017/12/11/oh-my-godheads-pc-review/feed/0Guardians of the Galaxy Ep 4 Who Needs You (PC) Reviewhttp://brutalgamer.com/2017/10/26/guardians-galaxy-ep-4-needs-pc-review/
http://brutalgamer.com/2017/10/26/guardians-galaxy-ep-4-needs-pc-review/#respondThu, 26 Oct 2017 12:15:11 +0000http://brutalgamer.com/?p=125406Star-Lord chose to destroy the Infinity Forge, and is beginning to learn what that means. Meanwhile, the Guardians themselves are in for a bumpy ride. Let’s see what happens in Guardians of the Galaxy Ep 4 Who Needs You. You can find our coverage of Ep 1 here, Ep 2 here and Ep 3 here. The …

]]>Star-Lord chose to destroy the Infinity Forge, and is beginning to learn what that means. Meanwhile, the Guardians themselves are in for a bumpy ride. Let’s see what happens in Guardians of the Galaxy Ep 4 Who Needs You.

The Great Hala

Star-Lord decided that the best way to deal with the Infinity Forge was to destroy it. What nobody could predict however, is that Hala would become infused with the power of the Forge. It was not easy, but the Guardians were able to escape before she could end the team. Even though that meant the members each falling into a vast chasm and becoming lost deep inside a strange planet. Nothing ever goes wrong in or on strange planets, right?

Worms

As soon as Quill and the team determine that everyone survived the fall, an unusual rock-devouring stone worm emerges from a hole in the wall. Quill befriends the creature after Mantis senses its feelings. Given the name Bowie after Earth’s own space traveller, the team gains an ally in the local.

We see some additional footage of Peter with his mother, showing how they choose to cope with her declining health. We are also shown a fresh memory, this time between Drax and his daughter Kameria. Kameria is preparing to take her initiation into their warrior way of life. This shows us a deeper, more caring side of Drax that is usually glossed over.

Emotions

Emotions are at a boiling point at times throughout this episode. Everyone knows that even the best of friends have disagreements at times. Sometimes they are cleared up at the time of the arguement, while other times there may be a disagreement that causes a rift in their friendship. The latter is what we are approaching with the Guardians. Since Chapter 1, Rocket has been threatening to leave the team, although as the story unfolds, he may be the last man standing.

The choices you will be met with are sometimes light and trivial, while others are game-changing. I certainly encountered a changer or two this time around. By the end of the chapter, the Milano only had 3 bodies aboard. Now, for the specifics of who and how, you’ll have to grab a copy and see how the story unfolds for you. Suffice it to say, that I was shocked at the way everything unfolded, and I’m a bit nervous as to how things will come together in episode 5.

Thoughts

Who Needs You certainly saw some of the best action so far. While it was not necessarily more action packed than others, it brought a smile to my face as I was trying to keep the correct triggers activated. There is a moment where the entire team is surrounded, standing back to back. With the camera in a slow rotation, we jump between every character fluidly, and who doesn’t love sharing the limelight.

The story element of these Guardians TellTale games has been quite intriguing. Starting with Thanos in episode 1, I’m not sure anyone was prepared for how the story was going to progress. Progress it has, and we’re at a bit of a nailbiting cliffhanger. I must commend the writers for this one in particular: I am not typically left on the edge of my seat this much by their other series.

One particular highlight that I believe most players will get a kick out of, is when Groot finds himself in a patch of toxic spores. No one thought he would be affected like he was, nor would they expect the adornment it produced.

Pick up TellTale Games’ Guardians Of The Galaxy Episode 4: Who Needs You today, to learn more about how this galaxy is unfolding.

]]>http://brutalgamer.com/2017/10/26/guardians-galaxy-ep-4-needs-pc-review/feed/0Offensive Combat: Redux! (PC) Reviewhttp://brutalgamer.com/2017/10/03/offensive-combat-redux-pc-review/
http://brutalgamer.com/2017/10/03/offensive-combat-redux-pc-review/#respondTue, 03 Oct 2017 18:00:08 +0000http://brutalgamer.com/?p=124453Offensive Combat: Redux! is a casual competitive FPS with an emphasis on humor. The gameplay is fairly enjoyable with wacky shticks that range from odd weaponry to Trump costumes. Unfortunately, while there’s a variety of weapons and costumes to pick from, there isn’t much with maps and game modes. What you get is a Quake-like …

]]>Offensive Combat: Redux! is a casual competitive FPS with an emphasis on humor. The gameplay is fairly enjoyable with wacky shticks that range from odd weaponry to Trump costumes. Unfortunately, while there’s a variety of weapons and costumes to pick from, there isn’t much with maps and game modes. What you get is a Quake-like game with fewer maps and more memes.

Gameplay

Offensive Combat: Redux! is like any standard fun-oriented arena shooter.

You have a selection of nearly all weapons in the game that you can swap out when respawning. There are health, ammo and power-up pickups in maps which help prolong your current life and beat your opponents. In-game currency and XP is rewarded when killing and “PWN”-ing enemies.

A cool feature of this is how, even if you didn’t kill someone, if no one picks up the coin they leave upon death, you can. XP is used for weapon upgrades while credits can be used to buy more costumes and gestures. There’s also no pay-to-win only play-to-upgrade!

Game Modes And Maps

5 game modes are provided and there are only 6 maps (as of writing). Eventually you may get bored even though the maps are fairly well designed. You have Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, Killer Robots and Exploration. For a game that appears to be off the walls I think it’s lacking here.

The maps are somewhat thematically different from the intentions of the game too, and I wish there were more maps with crazier features.

Weapons

So there is quite a variety of weapons to choose from, all of which have upgrade trees, which encourages continuous play. There are sniper rifles, SMGs, assault rifles, shotguns, alien guns, melee weapons and grenades among other types.

Each weapon tree is also unique in that it rewards different play styles. I was impressed and amused that they chucked in some specific upgrades where taking “cockshots” will deal more damage. All these upgrades are purchased using XP too, which is important to keep in mind.

Costumes

A key appeal of the game is that you can wear wacky costumes like a hotdog suit or poop emoji mask and do insulting gestures (“PWNs”) over your enemy’s corpse.

You can customize your head, arms, hands, legs, feet, core etc. While cool, this is where I think the game could take some tips from Deep Silver’s Saints Row. Saints Row is well-known, as a series, for its hilarious customization options. Specifically, I mean the taunts which could be “pwns”.

Most of the options aren’t all that offensive or creative in this game, as opposed to the Row titles. They’re more slapstick, which I assume is because the game was intended to be more PG than something like SR. There’s a good amount of options that could be better, funnier and more meme-related. This goes for weapons as well.

User Interface

Plainly, the UI could use some work. Offensive Combat’s UI looks like it was done using a starter menu tutorial in Unreal Engine 4.

Even though the looks are rough, they do the job and the main menu does some cool camera effects like going through a workshop where all your stuff is stored. You can also inspect and preview just about everything. Almost every button has a silly sound effect as well which may end up irritating people.

Networking

As of writing I am unsure about the stability of the servers. Here in South Africa, I’ve managed to play some long games but recently have been kicked for high ping (typical). Even so I never noticed lag – so props to that!

Overall verdict

Offensive Combat: Redux! is above-average. It has quite good arena gameplay with few hiccups. I dig the weapons, costumes and upgrades.

While I appreciate the emphasis on fun and good-natured humor it has though, I wish there was more to keep me playing. Perhaps there wasn’t enough time or investment to give players more variety with even funnier effects or it’s actually in the works. Either way, the game plays well and is definitely fun.

]]>http://brutalgamer.com/2017/10/03/offensive-combat-redux-pc-review/feed/0Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (PS4) Reviewhttp://brutalgamer.com/2017/08/09/hellblade-senuas-sacrifice-ps4-review/
http://brutalgamer.com/2017/08/09/hellblade-senuas-sacrifice-ps4-review/#respondWed, 09 Aug 2017 16:00:21 +0000http://brutalgamer.com/?p=123429Flaws and all, “Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice” is a one of a kind video game experience, providing an experience that hasn’t been seen in gaming before. Story and Characters Players take the role of Senua, an ancient Celtic warrior suffering from Psychosis. Having lost her true love Dillian in a raid by foreign tribesman, she travels …

]]>Flaws and all, “Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice” is a one of a kind video game experience, providing an experience that hasn’t been seen in gaming before.

Story and Characters

Players take the role of Senua, an ancient Celtic warrior suffering from Psychosis. Having lost her true love Dillian in a raid by foreign tribesman, she travels to the northern lands in search of the entrance to Helheim, the norse underworld. There, she plans to offer her own soul for his, undoing what she believes to be the punishment for trying to escape from her condition and live a normal life. She must do this quickly, however, before the darkness that has always plagued her takes over her mind completely.

While the setup may feel like a traditional hero’s journey, developer Ninja Theory distinguishes the game by trying to properly show what living with Psychosis is like. The developer went to great lengths to ensure this experience was accurately conveyed, doing hands on research and working with neuroscientists and psychologists to incorporate narrative and gameplay elements that contribute toward this goal.

The end result is a one of a kind interactive experience. Narrated entirely by Senua and the voices in her head, the story twists and turns according to what she sees and hears due to her condition. Obstacles and solutions appear and disappear according to her hallucinations, while the voices in her head provide encouragement, criticism and hints in a ceaseless storm of whispers. Rune stones trigger flashbacks to stories told to her by Druth, a man from the North who’s tales set her on her quest in the first place, and specters of Dillian and and her other loved ones remind her of the life she lost. It’s a one of a kind experience that makes the story all the more engaging and fleshes out Senua as a truly human character in only a few hours.

Gameplay

The gameplay mechanics likewise lend themselves to this goal. With no hud or onscreen prompts and little to no input from the game, players guide Senua through puzzles, hallucinations and combat sequences with severe consequences for failure: Should the player fail too many times, the darkness will take control of Senua and end the game, deleting the player’s save file and forcing them to start from the beginning.

The puzzle and hallucination segments rely on how Senua sees and interprets them, often times only impeding her because she believes them to be. To overcome this, players must search for different rune shapes or points of view, or search for the proper routes out of her hallucinations in order to progress. While these mechanics are interesting ideas that do lend themselves well to the narrative, they don’t always play out as well as they could. Some puzzles won’t have a clear solution and can lead to long periods of backtracking to find the proper view of a rune in the environment or hidden doorway. Likewise, several hallucinations rely on a try and fail approach to find the proper way through them. This wouldn’t be as frustrating if not for the permadeath mechanic, but because of the high stakes present in even one failure these segments serve more as a point of stress that takes a player out of the experience.

Combat, meanwhile, serves more to break up these segments with enemy encounters or to cap off a segment with a boss fight. Using light, heavy and melee attacks as well as dodges, players take on about half a dozen different types of enemies in larger and larger waves, with certain combinations of strikes causing more damage to specific enemies. It’s an easy to use system that hides a surprising amount of depth, forcing players to properly understand it by the end of the game to overcome the increasingly difficult enemy combinations. It also incorporates Senua’s condition into its gameplay, with the voices in her head acting as warnings for incoming enemy attacks from behind or out of sight.

Animation and Sound Design

In terms of graphics, the game is easily one of the most impressive titles to be released this year. With photo realistic character models utilizing motion capture technology and top notch lighting effects, the world comes to life both in game and in cutscenes. Senua’s facial animations are emotive and natural, with laughter lines and creases forming according to whichever emotion takes her. Likewise, sunlight filters through trees and glows against the surface of water, while moonlight filters down through holes in a fortress to illuminate supernatural beasts. It’s all a truly impressive showing from only a single development team and serves to show what independent projects could be capable of with the right tools.

Sound work is equally impressive, from music and voice acting to small special effect touches. The constant stream of voices from inside Senua’s head help to set the experience apart, providing a backdrop to events that helps to flesh out the story and the experience of psychosis to great effect. Melina Juergens portrayal of Senua perfectly captures her fear, frustration and sadness, bringing the character to life in a way few voice actors can do. Music is usually sparse, but helps build on the mood and atmosphere of the game when used.

Final Say

Even with its flaws, “Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice” is a one of a kind gaming experience. It presents a story and narrative that feels genuine and shows just what games can be capable of as an interactive art form.

]]>http://brutalgamer.com/2017/08/09/hellblade-senuas-sacrifice-ps4-review/feed/0Redeemer (PC) Reviewhttp://brutalgamer.com/2017/07/31/redeemer-pc-review/
http://brutalgamer.com/2017/07/31/redeemer-pc-review/#respondMon, 31 Jul 2017 15:32:13 +0000http://brutalgamer.com/?p=123164Redeemer is a brutal, top down, ultra-violent beat ’em up. You will be punching, kicking, stabbing, bashing, shooting and impaling people of all shapes and sizes. And loving every minute of it. The Story of Redemption Redeemer puts you in the robes and trainers of Vasily. Who has quite an interesting background but you probably …

]]>Redeemer is a brutal, top down, ultra-violent beat ’em up. You will be punching, kicking, stabbing, bashing, shooting and impaling people of all shapes and sizes. And loving every minute of it.

The Story of Redemption

Redeemer puts you in the robes and trainers of Vasily. Who has quite an interesting background but you probably won’t pay much attention to that. Not because it’s a bad story, but because you’ll be too busy murdering multiple people in very creative and gory ways to really pay attention.

Vasily was an elite operative who once worked for one of the biggest cybernetic weapons manufacturers in the world. While working here he conducted all sorts of nasty business which his parents probably wouldn’t be very proud of.

Then PLOT TWIST! The company want to turn you, Vasily, into one of their super cyborg soldiers. Vasily isn’t with the times and prefers his outdated fleshy form so does a runner to a monastery in the mountains.

For 20 years Vasily lived with the monks trying to find inner peace. Now the corporation has zeroed in on your location giving you one last shot at redemption. By killing more people than ever before.

Plenty of Murder Fun

As soon as Redeemer starts you’ll be impaling people on trees and shooting others in the face. Alongside many more gruesome ways to end your foes lives. Unfortunately they’re not going to be lining up to take you on one at a time.

Fortunately we have countermeasures for taking out groups of enemies. First up is a sweeping attack. You can pick out one ugly bugger in the group and pick on them or hit our other attack button to do a sweeping kick and hit multiple people at once. Or if you have a weapon equipped you can stab/smash/beat multiple people.

There are three ways to exterminate your enemies in Redeemer. You can do it the old fashioned way and run in throwing punches, kicks and all sorts of nasties. You can use the environment to your advantage by throwing chairs at people or ramming a table saw into their back. Then you can sneak around and silently take out enemies one by one. However these definitely feel like scripted moments rather than a style you can use throughout the whole game.

Also at our disposal is a rather useful parry, if timed correctly. If not you can just block and lose a little health with each hit. This comes in handy when surrounded by enemies so you can at least dish out a little while getting pummelled.

To add to the list of “helpful ways to kill people” is the ability to disarm enemies. Sometimes literally. This is a really useful tool when you get a bunch of armed bullies come in and embarrass you in front of the cool kids. With the ability to disarm you can hit one of them in the face with their own gun and then open up on all the rest. Always a good way to clear a room.

There’s not really a part of the fighting I didn’t enjoy. You always feel like the big meany rather than the weeny trying to defeat the meany. It’s very entertaining walking into a room and punching someone halfway across a room and then repeatedly smashing their head against the wall until they stop squirming.

Durability and You

All weapons have durability/ammo. So you won’t be running around constantly unloading clips and leaving dismembered bodies everywhere. Your weapons will break and your guns will run dry. So you have to keep an eye on that as some enemies can’t be brought down with your bare hands, regardless of how large and hairy they are.

This actually makes it more fun than annoying. There’ll be parts where you have waves of enemies so your weapons will constantly be breaking. So you’ll be repeatedly picking up new machetes and clubs after breaking the last and lashing out until there’s nothing left. At one point I couldn’t help but feel a little like John Wick with the amount I was picking up new guns and killing everyone in sight.

Don’t Leave at a Checkpoint

Now, in every other area this game has done very well to please. However, one thing it does that bothers me quite a bit is the same I remember I Am Alive doing. And that’s its save system. You have two saves, a save point and a checkpoint.

A save point will be at the end of the level and will actually save your game. Then you have your checkpoints. These activate during levels, so if you die you’ll respawn nearby enough. But if you suddenly have to go somewhere or whatever and think “oh OK well it’s saved, I can leave it here” you sir, or madam, are deeply mistaken. If left, the game will have no recollection of where you were. You go back to the game and you’ll start the level right from the beginning.

Then just to add insult to injury when you restart form a checkpoint you lose the weapons you had when you activated the checkpoint. Which is especially annoying when just after the checkpoint is a rather large enemy that takes quite some time to take down with just your fists.

To pour salt in the injury and add a comment about your mother to the insult, there is no ‘are you sure?’. When you play a game for a while you get familiar with the pause menu enough to be able to flick through it beyond the speed of light. Sometimes though you’re bound to make a mistake. If you make a mistake here then that’s it.

If you hit ‘restart’ or ‘quit to main menu’ then that is what you are doing. There will be no ‘are you sure’ pop up to make you realise your mistake and correct it there and then. No, no. You lose all progression and have to do it all over again. Not the end of the world and easily avoidable, all you have to do is not speed through the pause menu. Nevertheless, it is still a minor inconvenience.

Replay Value

Redeemer makes murder fun. There’s your replay value. It’s fun to play. The many ways in which to slaughter your opponents is enough entertainment to make you want to play through the game again. It has very enjoyable gameplay that’s bound to please the psycho that resides in all of us.

There are also scrolls hidden throughout the game that don’t do anything too interesting. Only adding to the glossary and giving some extra story and information. Not important but pretty cool if you’re into that sort of thing. It’s better than collectables that do nothing and make you waste 30+ hours wandering around just picking them up and getting nothing to compensate for your time… Ubisoft… And any other modern open world game really.

Then we have the arena mode. This is where you will standoff against countless enemies. This is good practice for when things get out of hand and you’re surrounded on all sides. It’s also just more fun to be had with the brutal gameplay that exists inside this glorious game.

All in All

There’s a lot of top down games floating around but Redeemer is definitely one of the better ones. Just the style of gameplay is enough to keep me entertained. The hand to hand really is a lot of fun, and that’s without the executions.

It does remind me of the old school beat ’em ups back on the Sega, which is in no way a bad thing. That’s where I spent my younger gaming years so it was a nice nostalgia trip.

Visually this is a nice bit of eye candy. Especially as it’s an indie game, but that’s to be expected when you use Unreal Engine. The only flaw I could point out here was random drops in frame rate. It only happened a few times but it was very noticeable. Other than that yes, very pleasing.

So, is this game worth your time and more importantly, your money? Yes. That’s the short answer. The campaign has a good length to it and the collectables and arena should keep you quiet for a while after. It’s a brutally, gory bucket of fun for all to enjoy.

The only real downside is the way it saves and there being no ‘are you sure’ pop up, other than that I can’t really fault it.

]]>http://brutalgamer.com/2017/07/31/redeemer-pc-review/feed/0Aven Colony (Xbox One) Reviewhttp://brutalgamer.com/2017/07/25/aven-colony-xbox-one-review/
http://brutalgamer.com/2017/07/25/aven-colony-xbox-one-review/#respondTue, 25 Jul 2017 16:00:08 +0000http://brutalgamer.com/?p=122890If you have ever found yourself wanting to build up colonies on a distant planet, discovering secrets from fallen civilizations and trying to discover what led to their downfall, Aven Colony might just be the game you have been looking for. Aven Colony releases on Playstation 4, Xbox One and Steam on July 25. Is …

]]>If you have ever found yourself wanting to build up colonies on a distant planet, discovering secrets from fallen civilizations and trying to discover what led to their downfall, Aven Colony might just be the game you have been looking for.

Aven Colony releases on Playstation 4, Xbox One and Steam on July 25. Is it worth the pre-order? Take a look:

Governor on a distant planet

Aven Colony takes place in the distant future. You are playing as a governor of a colony on Aven Prime, a planet selected for colonization. The planet looks to be an alien paradise. There are lush green landscapes, wide oceans and everything else you could expect from a planet chosen as the successor to Earth.

The premise is as follows: You play through a number of scenarios by building colonies on different parts of the planet. Each colony serves a specific purpose. One might serve as a mining facility, while another springs up out of necessity to house the colonists on the colony ship. These purposes exist solely for the narrative of the game though.

In other words, it doesn’t matter how you build your colonies. Once you claim victory, you move on to a new colony, and it is almost as if the old colonies either don’t exist, or follow the game’s plan instead of your own design.

This might seem like a problem, but the actual city building is rewarding enough that I didn’t mind having old colonies matching the game’s design rather than mine.

Each scenario has the player building certain types of structures for specific ends, all the while teaching the player in a way that is neither intrusive or bordering on hand holding. Players receive missions which, upon completion, get rewarded with materials.

It is worth mentioning that the story in Aven Colony is one that is engaging, if not overly dramatic or enthralling. The fact that the game sustains a narrative over the entire campaign is pretty cool as well.

If you don’t feel like working on specific objectives and just want to build an alien colony, you can play in sandbox mode.

Building a city from scratch isn’t always easy

This game is about building colonies, but when it comes down to it, they are cities.

You construct habitation, work, electricity sources, defense structures, food sources and much more. There are tons of structures and a large number of ways to go about specific tasks. If you need more electricity, you can build a geothermal vent, solar panels, wind turbines or mine a special mineral. Need more food? Grow a number of crops, including alien ones that you can use to make edible delicacies.

Construction is done by holding the left trigger and using a wheel to select the type of structure and the specific structure. The actual gameplay is not groundbreaking, but it works.

All this said, there are a few gripes I have with the way city construction works.

The biggest complaint I have is due to the planet not having a breathable atmosphere, the entire colony is sealed off. This makes sense thematically, but it creates a bit of tedium when it comes to managing large colonies. Air quality is one of the factors determing colonists’ happiness.

Lots of structures pollute the air, and air filters are the best way to fix the problem. Colonists hold votes every so often, deciding whether to keep you as the leader of the colony. To improve air quality , I found myself putting up lots and lots of tier three air filters. This only gets worse when you are scrolling through the colony building list searching for a specific building, and need to scroll over 50 air filters.

My other complaint is the apparent lack of recreational buildings. Similar to the air quality, keeping colonists happy with things like retail centers, virtual reality centers and restaurants plays a huge role in this game. Unfortunately, the lack of variety in these structures leaves making your colonists happy feel a bit stale.

Other monotony problems exist, such as colonists complaining about crime, the length of the commute they need to walk to get to work and the need for healthcare. Each of these are fixable if the player is decent at city building games though.

As you progress through the campaign, you get new ranks such as commissioner and commander. These don’t do anything in particular, but they do make you feel more important!

A truly alien planet

The entire aesthetic of Aven Colony is great. All of the buildings have distinct features, and the environments feel just familiar enough to place some recognition in, but not so familiar that you feel like you’re on Earth.

Certain things are only there for aesthetics, which kind of stinks. Things like the giant sand worms are only there to look cool. In none of my time with the game did I feel like I was in danger from these creatures. The voice acting is adequate, and the game looks good. Take a peek for yourself:

Overall…

If you have been looking for a competent city builder set on a distant planet, this could be the game for you. The narrative makes the experience more than just building a city on Aven Prime. Some structures only exist for narrative purposes and don’t offer much functionality, but I am willing to overlook some of those for the fun game we ended up with.

]]>http://brutalgamer.com/2017/07/25/aven-colony-xbox-one-review/feed/0Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War III (PC) Reviewhttp://brutalgamer.com/2017/06/15/warhammer-40k-dawn-of-war-iii-pc-review/
http://brutalgamer.com/2017/06/15/warhammer-40k-dawn-of-war-iii-pc-review/#respondThu, 15 Jun 2017 18:12:05 +0000http://brutalgamer.com/?p=121922Brutal and unforgiving The Warhammer 40k universe has legions of fans. And Sega’s Dawn of War III has the attention of most of them. So. Here it is. My take on Sega’s modern-classic RTS series. Here’s the thing though, I’m a complete beginner when it comes to the Dawn of War series. It took me …

]]>Brutal and unforgiving The Warhammer 40k universe has legions of fans. And Sega’s Dawn of War III has the attention of most of them.

So. Here it is. My take on Sega’s modern-classic RTS series. Here’s the thing though, I’m a complete beginner when it comes to the Dawn of War series. It took me a while to digest it, and all I’m gonna say is that it’s a completely new experience for me.

Without further ado, let’s get started.

Graphics

I’ve been playing League of Legends and DOTA 2 religiously just to stave off my cravings for RTS. Sure there’s still StarCraft but the desire for something new is still there. I am aware that to fully render an RTS on a scale like Last of Us is impossible, but what I saw with Dawn of War, I loved. So here’s the thing that all of you probably know: what makes RTS games amazing is both the macro and micro elements that make up the sum of the game.

There are probably a hundred different possible maneuvers that a player can do at any given time. And Dawn of War III makes all of that possible without compromising on the graphics. Sure, the graphical requirements of the game itself might be a little high for the average PC consumer. But keep in mind that it is optimized at any level of settings.

Hardcore enthusiasts can enjoy the graphics at the highest possible settings. And if that’s not you? Not to worry, less capable machines can do so on a more humble level. Either way, the same level of enjoyment is there.

Basically, the game looks great and feels great at any level of graphical setting.

Here’s the thing too: I loved every bit of the lore of the Warhammer series. In fact, when I first booted up the game, upon watching the opening cinematics I found myself hooked, instantly intrigued as to what the story was trying to tell me.

I actually spent a good chunk of my review time reading the lore of the series. And whatever I imagined that was described in the source material came out looking great in the game.

I mean, a person’s imagination can only do so much right? I imagined a great war where humanity was struggling to survive against the alien menace. The battles were arduous and somewhat impossible at times and I thought that they were well represented in the game. I loved StarCraft when I was younger and Dawn of War III made me feel at home with the classic RTS vibe… on a graphically increased scale.

All in all, the game looks and (more importantly) performs amazingly well. It runs smooth and the art is well represented. And the game’s violence-filled world of combat is dark and brutal.

Sounds

If I had any problems with the game, it would be the voice acting. If you’ve been reading my previous reviews, you would know that voice acting is a very big thing for me. It’s one of the elements that makes or breaks a game. In this case, the voice acting in Dawn of War III is definitely not up to my standards. Sure, I enjoy reasonable patriotic shouts and other nonsensical thing that the Orks can blurt out, but it gets repetitive in a way that isn’t good.

If you play League or even StarCraft, you know what I mean. Every unit would have at least 5 lines that you would hear repeatedly. StarCraft makes that interesting because the characters are likable, or sometimes even relatable. Dawn of War III’s characters are somewhat relatable at times.

That would have been interesting if executed properly, but it wasn’t. The whole thing made the voice acting not enjoyable for me. If anything is a saving grace though, it would have to be the music in the game. I love the music.

Developer Relic did an excellent job here conveying the emotions and pride that each faction should be feeling at any given time. The music can make you feel tense, it can make you feel ready to rock, and it even makes you feel fear for your own units. That’s how amazing the score is, and I’m glad they had better composers than voice actors.

I believe that the music made the game better. Again though, the voice acting… not so much.

Gameplay and Story

Like every other RTS game, Dawn of War III is micromanagement heavy. That’s while relying on your overall macro-management in order to prosper and attain victory. Unlike other RTS games, Dawn of War III is driven by 3 Elite Class Units. You can control them at any given time too.

My main problem with the game though, is that that’s a central element. It might sounds cool, but the 3 characters (as well as their unique abilities) are often overlooked. And that’s easy to do in favor of simply going ham, a’la Leeroy Jenkins.

Sure there’s base building and unit management, but at the end of the day Dawn of War III is all about the three characters and each faction’s unique abilities. And it’s all so negligible. It’s just not good. If Dawn of War III can follow the previous Dawn of War, and release some patches (or even a full-on expasnsion pack), then I hope that they can fix this issue there.

The army painter feature in action

As for the gameplay, it was enjoyable. But it could be better. It’s not bad exactly, but it’s not great either. Even so, it still manages to provide a unique feel that any RTS fan should enjoy.

The story on the other hand is full-on amazing.

Though I should add that that’s the lore of the entire series however, and not of this game itself. Warhammer and Dawn of War go hand-in-hand when it comes to storytelling.

Sometimes you’re going to want to actually pause the game and read up on some history. It sounds humorous, but you might need to just to be able to fully understand what’s happening. What’s motivating everyone in the game isn’t always clear.

You can enjoy the game for all of its RTS glory by itself. But if you have the time, I recommend reading up on the lore. That’s mainly because it is freaking amazing though. And it makes an already good game into a full-on immersive experience. It’s so deep that it won’t lose out to story-driven games like the Telltale Games or even Life is Strange.

Okay, I may be exaggerating a bit. But the story is just that good. It’s so good actually, that it makes up for the little issues that I had with this one.